Racism and toxic masculinity in the so-called “gentlemen” menswear sphere

These comments were taken from underneath posts by menswear influencers and clothing brands who participated in #BlackoutTuesday in support of Black Lives Matter. 

To be fair, most comments were positive and also in support of the minimum-effort gesture of activism. But you didn’t have to scroll far to find a very vocal contingent of fragile dudes with private profiles airing their grievances. 

One of the things that’s bothered me about a lot of these communities surrounding a lot of menswear influencers schtick is it tends to attract and breed the type of toxic masculinity cults around the self-help content they produce. And let’s be honest: the menswear influencer space is predominately white. Maybe we need less “how to dress like a gentlemen in 7 easy steps” and more “how to not be a racist in 7 minutes” explainer videos instead?